There are many efforts being waged to fight drug abuse and one of these wars is being fought in the workplace. There are a number of organizations that already have drug-free workplace programs in place, but unfortunately, not all of these programs are working the way they should. The Working Partners for an Alcohol and Drug-Free Workplace of the U.S. Department of Labor shares a few reasons why.
One reason is insufficient dissemination. There is a policy in place, but no one really knows what it says, which essentially defeats the purpose of the policy. In order to remedy the situation, companies that are in this situation need to pull out their policies, review them to ensure that they are timely, and update them if necessary. Once the policy has been sufficiently updated, it needs to be distributed to all employees and supervisors, and explained to them. Then the employees should be allowed to ask questions about the policy, and required to sign acknowledgement receipt forms.
For companies that implement random drug testing, it is important to keep employees educated about the procedure in order to help them keep an open mind about it. There are those who view drug testing as nothing but invasive, and thus looks at it with disdain. If they are made to understand how it can protect the company and contribute to the job security and personal safety of each employee, then the program will gain invaluable employee support. There are unions that actually support, rather than defy, drug testing, for as long as these programs are implemented fairly, with “procedures that ensure the integrity, accuracy and confidentiality of the results and provide opportunities for workers to get help and retain their jobs.”
We will share other drug-free workplace policy pitfalls in succeeding posts.
Tags: drug free office, drug free work environment, drug free workplace
